On my mind

I will warn you, this blog is full of some jumbled thoughts of mine...you were warned... ;)

So many things have been going through my mind over the last few weeks and months. Many people have been asking what's going on with our adoption-so I'll give you all the readers digest version (I suppose I really should write exactly how the process goes, but that'll have to wait for another blog) we have finished our home study and are waiting on America World to approve it, once they approve it, we'll submit our paperwork to be submitted to immigration and then we're almost done...well, with the paperwork part. Once we're fingerprinted with immigration we wait for a letter to come in saying that we're approved, that should be the last piece of paperwork for our dossier! It should take about 2 weeks or so for our agency to approve things, and then about another week for the official home study to be officially written up, copied and sent to us. Then, we go to immigration, wait for the results (2-4ish weeks) so hopefully about a month or so for everything to be finalized, and then...hopefully submit our dossier to Ethiopia! I'm praying a bold prayer to be able to submit our dossier by March sometime. After the dossier is submitted, we wait...about 10-16 months. What to do during the "waiting period" has been on my mind a lot, and here's why...

I want to do something to make a difference, to make an impact. My heart has been broken and my eyes have been opened to a crisis that is world wide..the orphan crisis. I find it odd that my heart can break for a country that I've never set foot in, Africa. But I am drawn to Africa, because I know that a part of my life will be Africa. My son will be from Africa, his birth family will be from Africa. I am excited to share with our son of his African heritage and about his country. But, I have been praying lately pretty boldly that God would make it clear how He wants to use me. I want to go to help the people of Africa. Don't get me wrong, I know that we have a orphan crisis worldwide-right here in Fairfield even there are children without homes, and I am SO thankful that God has called individuals here in Fairfield to help with the orphans locally, SO thankful that God calls us to different areas and gives us different passions. Because if we were all called to the same things-who would help elsewhere?

I used to say that I was thankful that I wasn't called to global missions, I was quite comfortable with my yearly missions trip to Tijuana, and serving in my church, but I've known for a while that God has been calling me to do more, it's been in the back of my head and I've been mentally filing that thought into my "think about later file" but somehow, God has placed it in my "how about right now" file. So I'm praying, praying about what to do next, because when we talk to our future son about his country and his story (whatever it may be) I don't want him to ask why didn't we do more? Why couldn't we try to help more people? Because in all honesty, I can't think of a reason that we can't. I'm ready to change the world for Jesus.

(ps, I found the picture below via Pinterest, my roots may not lie there, but a big part of my heart lives there :) )

Just.Love.Coffee

I worked at Starbucks for years, and another small coffee shop before that. Just recently I developed a love for coffee, actually in the last year or so-who would've thought after years of working with coffee I would have just developed a love for it.


Just love coffee is another fundraiser that you might want to help with. Just love coffee is an organization that sells coffee, and out of each bag sold with our account, $5 will go to our adoption fund. Want to try some? Go for it. If you want, click on this little video about the organization.

If you're interested, please click on this link to visit our online store, or you can click on the link in the sidebar. Have a wonderful day!

A whirlwind of a month! But a good one...

I can't believe that we've been in the adoption process for almost 2 months already! Time has flown by (ask me in 6-9 months if I still feel this way...) Here is a glimpse of what our month has been like...

Our home study has been started and is just about done! By this Friday, we will have completed our interviews, submitted our paperwork and be awaiting the approval from our agency before the final draft is written.

We have started and are getting close to done with collecting documents for our dossier! In all honesty, the dossier can seem really intimidating, but it's really not, try not to get overwhelmed if you aren't there yet. We are getting ready to have a fun notary party soon for all the necessary documents, thanks to a great friend from our church who has offered to help us with the notarization process :)

In just the short amount of time, we have seen God's hand at work in so many ways. The opportunities we've had to share about Him, the ways He's allowed us to grow in faith together-it's been absolutely amazing. It's almost indescribable, God is good and it's amazing how He chooses to show us. Usually it's when I'm feeling pretty down, and then a sweet text from a special friend with encouraging information and kind words, it's crazy cool how God uses His people.

The Body of Christ, as seen in high school ministry.

Today, I'm thankful for the body of Christ, especially for the body that is our high school youth group. Thursdays we have youth group, the past Thursday didn't start off much different than any other, but it ended differently. Two students came to Justin and handed him money, totally unexpected. To some, it might not have been much, but to us it meant everything. We're pretty open with our students about our adoption and the steps we're at and things like that-but we've never once mentioned money to them in any way, one student just said he had read our blog and wanted to help, and handed Justin $10, the other gave us 5 one dollar bills. Every single donation that we receive big and small means the world to us, but this one was just struck a chord in my heart. I love the students that we work with, and I can't wait to bring our baby home to meet not only our students, but every single person who's helped support us bring him home. You all mean so much to us .

Fundraiser #2! We will be having a yard sale to fund raise for our adoption. If you have any items you'd like to donate to our sale, please email me at stephLnunes@hotmail.com, message me on Facebook or just let me know. We will gladly come pick our donations from your home if you live in or around Solano county or Napa county.

Jehovah-Jireh, my provider.

JEHOVAH-JIREH-the Lord will provide. That pretty much sums up our last few weeks. When we first started this journey-we did not have a dime towards our adoption fund. We knew that the LORD was calling us to adopt and that He was calling us to adopt now, so we pretty much started a journey of faith. Every cent we’ve paid so far has come fully from the LORD. The night we announced our plans to adopt, someone donated exactly what we needed to make the initial payment. Humbled. The next payment that we made, we raised in about 2 weeks. Humbled. Even when I think “Ok, if we can raise half, we can do the other part on our own if we’re super tight this week” God says “Nope, trust me” and the funds are given. Humbled. In the short time we’ve been on this journey I am in awe of the work that the Lord has done. We needed $1,250 to begin our home study, which we didn’t have, that day I was so sad, knowing that God was in control but knowing that I wanted things to move fast and this was holding us back, about three hours after I gave it up to God and yet again admitted my fears, someone called and gave us $1,100 dollars, they had gotten more on their Christmas bonus than they had thought, so they gave it to us. Humbled. Everything we have needed so far has been provided, and it’s usually right before the money is due-it’s a God thing. We're humbled.

And now, we have begun our home study process!!! In exactly one week from today, we will have our first home study appointment. I thought I’d be way nervous; maybe it just hasn’t hit me yet. We really like our social worker; she’s so sweet and has even been emailing me on her vacation, in Korea! What a sweetheart she is. We have been collecting papers like crazy for this homestudy! This is what we needed:

-parent information forms (basically a history report on us)

-employment verification

-medical reports and physicals

-FBI/DOJ and child abuse clearances

-Home verification statement

-Guardianship statement (who will take care of our little one if something happens)

-Copies of birth certificates and marriage license

-Online education (working on that one...)

-Financial information forms

-Tax returns

-Criminal record check

We also need to raise $1,000 before our social worker comes in a week, if you can, would you please pray that the funds needed would come in, and if they don’t for patience as we raise this next bit. JEHOVAH-JIREH. He’ll provide in the time He sees fit.

Thank you readers! We can’t wait to bring our baby home and introduce him to everyone who has played a part in his life, and you are included! Through your reading and your prayers, you’re helping us get one day closer to bring our baby home.